This
beautiful sterling silver cigarette case is circa 1920's and depicts a Scarab
beetle with it wings outstretched holding the sun god Horus. The word Scarab
originates from the Latin
Scarabaeus, a beetle, the ancient Egyptian symbol of longevity usually
combining representations of the sacred insect with a pellet suggesting the
sun, the whole sacred to the sun-god. Sometimes the venerated beetle as a
living soul is shown with outstretched wings or with the horned head of a
ram. Scarabs often are inscribed with mottos or other similar lettering.